The four-person team joins Venturi from Waypoint Investment Group of Wells Fargo Advisors, led by Joey Sager, a 30-year industry veteran previously named by as the Top Financial Advisor in Oklahoma.

“We’ve looked for opportunities to grow our business outside of Austin for more than a year, but this is the first team that we truly felt perfectly aligned with our culture and values,” Venturi CEO and Founding Partner Russ Norwood said.

The other team members joining Venturi in Oklahoma City are Senior Lead Advisor DeWayne Crunk and Senior Client Associates Melissa Heiman and Pat Fletcher.

The expansion will help grow Venturi’s combined assets under management to over $1 billion just three years after Norwood and Venturi CIO and Founding Partner George Clark left senior positions at Merrill Lynch Private Banking and Investment Group in 2015.

That same year, Sager and his team also began considering striking out on their own after a wave of negative news broke regarding questionable business practices in other divisions and offices of Wells Fargo.

Drawn to the independence and higher fiduciary standard of the Registered Investment Advisor (RIA) model, Sager was introduced by a mutual acquaintance to Norwood for guidance and advice. After many conversations, he offered to help Sager build a similar but independent boutique wealth management firm in Oklahoma City before the two decided it would be better to join forces under the Venturi name.

“We share a vision of providing a Mayo-clinic like approach to serving our clients, bringing together top talent from multiple disciplines to advise and manage portfolios from every angle, including asset allocation, tax efficiency and estate planning,” said Sager, Managing Director at Venturi. “The Venturi model is exactly what we were looking to provide our clients, and joining the firm allows us to do this sooner with more resources right out of the gate.”

The newly combined teams also share a goal of recruiting top young talent.

Venturi serves approximately 75 clients that are mostly entrepreneurs or senior officers in public companies with goals of protecting and preserving their lifestyle needs, transferring wealth to their children and grandchildren and funding philanthropic objectives.

“Our clients are first generation wealth creators,” Norwood said. “They have complex planning needs and often children they are concerned about taking care of. Our goal is to become a strong resource for their families and future generations. We want to build a multigenerational firm and create a path of continuity for our current clients and their families.”

Venturi’s Oklahoma City office is now open at 11600 Broadway Extension, Suite 200.

Founded in 2015, the firm currently has offices in Austin and Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. ranked Venturi as one of the top FT 300 Registered Investment Advisors in 2017 and 2018.